In recent years, the use of wireless communication devices has grown rapidly. One significant limitation to the use of a wireless communication device is the life of the battery used to power the device. While battery life has the greatest impact on "portable" wireless communication devices, wireless communication devices installed in a vehicle, commonly called "mobile" communication devices, also have battery life restrictions. Although a wireless communication device installed in a vehicle may not significantly effect the battery life of the vehicle when the vehicle is operating, a vehicle battery may be depleted if a wireless communication device is left on after the vehicle is turned off.
Most wireless communication devices installed in vehicles turn themselves off when the vehicle's ignition changes to the off state. According to this convenience on/off feature, the on/off state of the telephone follows the ignition high/low state. When the vehicle is off, the user must then manually turn on the wireless communication device, and in some cases, unlock the unit to place it in a standby receive mode. However, even in the standby mode of a conventional wireless communication device, unauthorized persons may transmit unauthorized phone calls or data.
The increased use of cellular digital messaging services, paging services and the transmission of facsimiles and computer files by way of cellular networks will require the communication unit to be in a standby mode when the user is away from the vehicle. Further, different features may be desired when in the standby mode. Accordingly, there is a need for a communication device having a standby mode to conveniently receive predetermined messages while the communication device is unattended, such as when the user is away from the vehicle. Further, there is a need for communication device having preselected features for a standby mode.